Regulators have provided compliance templates for firms in order to help them comply with the new regulations.

What are the SRA Transparency Rules?

The SRA Transparency Rules set out the information that SRA authorised firms should make available to clients and potential clients and form part of the Better Information, more choice: Post consultation rules. The rules aim to ensure people have accurate and relevant information about a solicitor or firm when they are considering purchasing legal services and will help members of the public and small businesses make informed choices, improving competition in the legal market.

The rules were announced as part of the SRA’s wider Looking to the Future and Better Information, more choice reforms which were designed to improve public access to legal services by making information on price, protections and services more easily available.

How will the SRA Transparency Rules affect my firm?

SRA Regulated law firms must publish information on the prices they charge for certain public-facing services, as well as display a new badge (yet to be produced) showing the protections their regulated status gives customers, under new measures that were confirmed by the SRA on 14th June 2018, and approved by the LSB on 3rd August 2018.

How am I expected to publish my prices under the SRA Transparency Rules?

The SRA has worked with other regulators in order to agree common frameworks for publishing price information on certain services.

Publishing Price information Through your website

You are expected to make it simple for your clients and prospective clients to find your pricing information:

“1.6 Cost information published under this rule must be clear and accessible and in a prominent place on your website.”

What if I don't have a website?

You will still need to provide the information on request:

“3.1 An authorised body … that does not have a website, must make the information … available on request”

Is the SRA mandating how I prices my services?

No. According to the SRA:

"does not seek to specify what pricing models you use, or the prices you charge. Its purpose is to make sure that information on costs and services is as readily available to the public as possible, in a format that is accurate and easy for them to understand."

Do the rules require me to publish a binding quote?

No. According to the SRA:

The rules do not require you to publish a binding quote for each and every scenario which you may deal with, for example, pre-empting unusual complexities or that a client may not follow your advice.

When an unforeseen complexity arises or where the way in which a client asks you to proceed means additional work, you should inform the client of this and provide revised costs information.

What do the SRA Transparency Rules look like?

The new rules are encapsulated in the SRA Transparency Rules and set out the information that SRA authorised firms should make available to clients and potential clients. According to the new rules:

“The rules aim to ensure people have accurate and relevant information about a solicitor or firm when they are considering purchasing legal services and will help members of the public and small businesses make informed choices, improving competition in the legal market.”

What are the Mandatory Requirements of the rules?

- You must provide price information prominently, in as clear and understandable format as possible

- You must specify whether stated prices include VAT

- You must specify exactly what is included within the price displayed. This is important even if you quote a fixed fee to avoid confusion amongst consumers about what they might need to pay extra for

- If you publish a range of costs, you need to set out the basis for your charges, including any hourly rates and the types of factors that will determine what the final price will be

- If you offer your services in different ways and the delivery model impacts on the price, make this clear. For example, if you charge a higher fee for face-to-face services than for strictly online services

- If using an online quote generator, the generator must produce a quote directly without requiring any additional contact, for example someone calling to discuss the quote

Can I capture contact information for the client before producing a quote or providing a fee estimate?

According to the SRA:

If using an online quote generator, the generator must produce a quote directly without requiring any additional contact, for example someone calling to discuss the quote

You could request contact information for the client, so long as followup contact was not a requirement of them obtaining a quote in the first place.

This is an important consideration with respect to data privacy. With QuoteXpress you can choose whether or not to capture contact details when providing a quote.

The SRA also notes that:

"consider how consumers like to interact with price information, for example research shows that when using an online price generator people do not like being forced to provide personal information such as email addresses or phone numbers."

What is the SRA Transparency Rules implementation deadline?

According to the SRA:

“From 6 December 2018, our transparency rules mean you must display prices and service information if you publish that you work in any of the ... areas”

Does the SRA still intend to publish complaints data?

According to the SRA:

“Following feedback, we no longer plan to publish details of client complaints to law firms. This is based on concerns that without appropriate context, complaints data could be difficult to understand.”

The SRA will however require that a firm:

“must publish on its website details of its complaints handling procedure including, details about how and when a complaint can be made to the Legal Ombudsman and to the SRA.”

Which legal services are affected by the SRA Transparency Rules?

In its initial consultation the SRA considered the areas of law it believed would make the biggest impact in terms of implementing the CMA’s recommendations around better price transparency in legal services.

Since the consultation, the SRA has "decided to wait to see how the market develops” with respect to price publication for divorce and will writing. For personal injury matters the SRA has concluded that providing consumers with a greater understanding of the process and what it involves will have a greater impact on people accessing these services and helping them to choose a provider.

As such the SRA intends to:

“issue guidance for both divorce and personal injury matters on how firms can be more transparent. This guidance will encourage price transparency in these areas, but also focus on providing clear and accessible information to consumers on the legal process they are going through and help them to understand their options.”

The table below details the case types covered by the Transparency Rules and whether QuoteXpress can generate an instant fee estimate for the service. The list of services is greater than those covered by the CLC's new Regulatory Arrangements, as one would expect.

For Consumers

Conveyancing

What questions do I need to ask in order to produce a transparent fee estimate for conveyancing?

With respect to conveyancing, templates for calculating conveyancing fees were developed between the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, Chartered Institute of Legal Executives and the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The information you are expected to capture in order to produce an accurate and transparent fee estimate is as follows:

Required Information

Asked in QuoteXpress and automatically factored into the fees if required?

whether a first-time buyer

Yes

value of sale/purchase

Yes

whether a remortgage

Yes

whether freehold or leasehold

Yes

whether a new build

Yes

whether first registration of title

Yes

whether mortgage or not

Yes

whether an Islamic mortgage

Yes

in purchase cases, whether primary residence, buy to let or second/holiday home

Yes

whether multiple owners

Yes

whether a shared ownership scheme

Yes

whether using a help to buy scheme

Yes

whether purchase under right to buy

Yes

whether purchase at auction

Yes

whether property has been repossessed

Yes

Free Conveyancing Transparency Compliance Tool

Regulators have provided compliance templates for firms in order to help them comply with the new regulations.

These templates are available through our Transparency Compliance Tool - sign up for free today

Regulators have provided compliance templates for firms in order to help them comply with the new regulations.

Immigration

Which types of applications are covered by the rules?

- Applications for naturalisation or registration under the British Nationality Act 1981

- Applications on behalf of European Economic Area (EEA) nationals and their family members under the applicable EEA Regulations or Immigration Rules, including applications for permanent residence, residence cards, and registration certificates

Regulators have provided compliance templates for firms in order to help them comply with the new regulations.

Licensing Applications

What questions do I need to ask in order to produce a transparent fee estimate for Licensing applications in relation to business premises for a small business?

You are required to provide price information to businesses in relation to applying for a new premises licence or to vary a premises licence to allow those premises to be used for one or more licensable activities.

This means that the rules are limited to two types of applications – applications for a premises licence under Section 17 of the Licensing Act 2003 and applications to vary a premises licence under Section 34 of the Licensing Act 2003.

According to the SRA, if you cannot provide the total cost of the service in the form of a fixed fee, you can provide the average cost or a range of costs instead. We have not prescribed what these ranges are, but they should be the best information you can provide based on your knowledge and experience.

Free Licensing Applications Transparency Compliance Tool

Regulators have provided compliance templates for firms in order to help them comply with the new regulations.

These templates are available through our Transparency Compliance Tool - sign up for free today